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December 15, 2025 • 16 mins
In this episode, host Meg discusses the DramaBox series 'Love You to Death,' focusing on the characters Brooke and Nate, their complex relationship, and the themes of obsession and control. Meg shares her thoughts on the stalker genre, the performances of the actors, and the plot's inconsistencies, while also contemplating the potential for a sequel.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to my vertical obsession. I'm your host, Megan, and
today we are talking about Love You Too Death on
Drama Box and it stars Kristin Kendall as Brooke Ellison
and Kayla and Ben Armstrong as Nate Slash Nathan and
The synopsis for this one is rebelling against her perfect life.
High school senior cheerleader Brooke falls into a hot and

(00:23):
heavy romance with transfer student and new QB Nate. Everything
seems perfect until she discovers that Nate has a very
dark side. So diving into the characters, we have Brooke,
who is trusting, sweet, oblivious, and also very fierce. She
was way too trusting of Nate far too many times,
especially when her gut would tell her to question him

(00:45):
and things. She wanted to believe that she was worrying
for nothing or just overreacting. She wanted to believe Nate
was the sweet guy who cared deeply for her. She
was oblivious to the red flags he kept throwing up
so many reds oh many, even her friend mentioned it.
He is a walking red fleck. She tried to end

(01:06):
it after he nearly beat a man to death for talking.
Slash kind of harassing her in a bar, but then
stayed with him. And this relationship between the two of
them kind of gave me vibes of an abusive relationship
because he had kind of manipulated her to stay with him.
While he wasn't physically abusive to her, he was still very,

(01:27):
very controlling, So I think that also added to why
she didn't see or rather didn't Questionate more. His charm
was able to fool her. She still had her doubts,
but she just wanted to believe it wasn't true. When
the truth did come out, she was ready to fight back.
She risked her life to save her friend Oggi and
refused to let him kill her too. She fought to

(01:49):
take him down, but he was a bit stronger. Thankfully,
she was able to save Aggie and her father was
able to save her. And with Nate, he was crazy, psycho,
so obsessive and murderous. He said he did these things
in the name of love and wanting nothing to break
him and Brooke out, but it was really his way
of controlling everything. It wasn't really about Brooke, but his

(02:12):
need to control things that could have been due to
something in his past. But we really didn't get much
about his life other than his relationship with Kayla, and
this could have been triggered by that relationship. He did
mention that she cheated and that she stopped loving him,
so he killed her, and that might have brought up
this whole If nothing can keep us apart and no

(02:32):
one for Brooke to love, that he'll be the only
one she needs. So he ends up taking things too
far because he needs to keep Brook no matter what
the cause. He wants to be the knight in shining armor,
but in reality he's the one to save the girl
from the danger he'd put her in, kind of like
Another example is he's putting out the fire that he
started in the first place. He believes Brooke wouldn't want

(02:55):
him if he wasn't around to save her. That also
means he doesn't want her to be with anyone else,
and in the end, if she wasn't with him, he'd
kill her, just as he killed Kayla. Turns into a
if I can't have her, no one else can, so
he has that mentality and ends up killing her or
wanting to kill her so that way no one else

(03:16):
can be with her. No one else can have her
because he can't, so I found the story to be
a little dark and twisted. It was definitely a stalker
type series for sure, and I really kind of love
that they've kind of started to add some of these
different themes and stories to the vertical categories. So I

(03:36):
know there are definitely stalker movies out there, and for me,
those ones are ones that I will watch versus a
horror movie because I find the stalker genre to be
less scary than horror movies. It's still very creepy and
very twisted, but that's about as far as I go
when it comes to like scary movies. I will not

(03:57):
do horror, but darker ones I enjoy from time to time,
and it depends on the story, because, like I know
what you did last summer, While it's teens getting murder
and kind of in the horror genre, I also find
that it ease a little bit in the stocker genre too.
Getting back to the series, we got Nate who fell
for Brock and wouldn't let anyone else have her, and

(04:19):
those that try to keep them apart were gotten rid of.
He was possessive and obsessed. He kind of reminded me
of Mark Wahlberg's character from the movie Fear and Brooke
kind of reminded me of Reese Witherspoon's character from the
movie Fear. I kind of felt that this was very
on brand for that movie. The similarities between them I
found for so interesting. And I know there's a lot

(04:42):
more to Fear, but I just it really gave me
the sense that it was similar to that movie. And
I know I had slightly brought this up in the
last one. I did Bound to the Rebel Wolf, and
I didn't say because I was like, I did want
to ruin the the analogy I was making for this one,
so I was like, but this was the one I
was using. So as I said, you know, in Fear,

(05:05):
Mark's character falls for Reese's character and would do anything
to keep them together, which is the theme of this series.
And I also may mention that there are probably other
series out there that are very similar to this, but
that's the one that popped in my head the most
because that's one of the movies that I like because
I am a fan of Alissa Milano, so she's in that,

(05:26):
so I've watched it from her, watched it for her,
and I really enjoyed the whole movie because it really
gives this whole small town girl falls for bad boy
who turns out to be crazy and fights back to
save her friends and her family. And I really loved that,
even though it was a very star is genre film,
but I still very much enjoyed it. And the ending

(05:49):
was the just Desserts. So this series was one that
gave off very creepy vibes and he kind of wondered
if Nate was going to get away with everything that
he had done. Also, no one was more suspicious sooner,
which was very strange. I mean, yes, there were questioning,
and Aggie and Brooks other friends live also kind of

(06:10):
we're questioning a bit, but there really wasn't too many
questions until later on. And I'm just like, he's done
some suspicious things and no one's questioning it. He's also
very acting, very suspicious. And then again I pointed out
how stalker series and movies like this, they aren't very
scary at least to me. Might be to some other

(06:32):
people or they might be triggering to other people too
that I can understand, but for me personally, they aren't
very scary. They aren't quite horror movies, but they do
still have like jump scares and freaking moments. It all
depends on how it goes and what level of scary
they go. Now I know the two off the top
of my head. Actually there's three that I know off

(06:55):
the top of my head, which a swim fan, Fear
and abandon, And for me, they weren't much scary in
the sense of horror, but in kind of like a
psychological freaky scary, because you're like, there are people out
there that do exist like this. You may not see
them daily, but there are people who exist who are
this obsessed with someone or will do something like this

(07:19):
to be with someone. So it's kind of more that
scary versus jumping out and killing kids or some sort
of crazy, blood filled death that some horror movies do.
So I find that that that's the scarier nature of
a stalker film, And that's what this series kind of
brought is that whole like, well, you have this Nate

(07:42):
character who will do anything to keep Brooke with him,
and the links that he will go to keep her
by his side is very out there. It makes you
kind of fearful that this is something that could happen.
Did mention that this was kind of low key, a
little freaky, but it's so enjoyable to watch. There was
a lot of suspense and there was also a lot

(08:03):
of like, wait what moments type of thing. So I
also have to commend Ben Armstrong who played Nate, because
he really did a good job at playing Nate in
this crazy psycho character. Like I said, he did a
very good job. I was a little freaked out by
the character very much so, and I was just like, Okay, wait,
what are you gonna do? Because I mean some of

(08:25):
the other ones that I've seen with him, he's been
the charming bad boy with the heart of goal and
a softer side boyfriend, versus this role, which is he's
just bat shit crazy and he's just out there trying
to kill people. So it was very fun to see this,
and I love when you can see actors who play

(08:46):
these good roles turn and play a crazy, murderous or
villain like this and do it very well. Sometimes actors
get stuck in similar characters and they don't really get
to explore or other types of characters. So like if
you have like the good boy next door or the
best friend, you don't always get to see them in

(09:08):
another role of like the villain or the crazy psycho,
which ends up being like type casting, i'd say for
some actors, and it's very sad when that happens. Others,
I don't think mind it because if it's similar roles
and it keeps getting them work, then it works out.
But I just know that sometimes it's nice to see
like arrange from actors. And Ben did fantastic playing this

(09:33):
because he definitely freaked me out. The character is just
so creepy and he just like really had a good
look of like I'm going to destroy people when he
wasn't putting on this whole like I'm a charming good guy.
So I got to comment, Ben, who're doing such a
great job as Nate for sure. So some of the
things that I had questioned was like how did Nate

(09:55):
get on the football team? Like that was one question
that I didn't quite understand. So he gets rid of
Jimmy the quarterback, and then suddenly shows up and now
he's the quarterback, even though I'm pretty sure the team
was already like playing games and like Triace entready happened.
So I was just like, how did he get on
the team? I guess you can assume that maybe he

(10:16):
talked to the coach and the coach was like, Uh,
sure you can join. But I didn't think that was
how it worked when it came to school sports like that,
but I could be wrong. But also to the fact
that Jimmy went missing and no one questioned it. It's
like the coach didn't question it. He didn't none of
the teachers questioned it. It's like it was mentioned once

(10:37):
by the team being like, oh, he never showed up,
especially after Nate joined the team, but was never a
bigger deal that your classmate just disappeared. Because that's the
other thing is like Nate joined the team got rid
of Jimmy, no one noticed Jimmy was gone. I mean
they did, but it wasn't made a bigger deal in
the series. And then when he was found dead, like
that really wasn't mentioned either, Like it was mentioned by

(10:59):
the Cup when he said that, oh, I talked to
the boys on the football team, but otherwise it wasn't
mentioned around school. No one freaked out about it. Do
you think if their classmate was found dead, they'd be
kind of freaked out. So that was one thing that
I was just like, I feel like that should have
been made a little bit big of a deal. And
then move on to Reagan found with drugs, but no

(11:20):
one questions if it was planted or what happened, especially
since Reagan the day before had shared a video of
Nate and Brooke together and then suddenly she has drugs
in her blocker. It's like and the look that Nate
gave Brook after it happened, it's like basically proving that
he did it. Of course she asks him and he's like, well,
if you don't want to know the answer, then don't ask.

(11:41):
But other than that, it's just like no one's worried
what's going on. So I was just like going, like,
how how did Nate do this? Because he did these
things out in the open, it's like no one really
questioned this. It's like Brooke friend did. But it wasn't
until they broke and Nate went away to the cabin
that they're started to worry a little bit. And I'm
just like, how did he get away with this? Because

(12:03):
he wasn't very anonymous and he didn't really do it
in the shadows. And maybe it's because since watching the
series and you're knowing it's happening. It's a little bit
easier to see that it happened. But at the same time,
I'm just like, I feel like it should have been
more of a question, maybe not the fact that Nate
did it, but at least more of a question. I
feel like people kind of brush some of these things

(12:25):
off and we're just a little bit too blind to it,
and it's just like okay. But then again, I guess
if they do question it, or they start to question Nate,
it would kind of ruin the whole idea of the series.
But I still think that Jimmy's vanishing and death should
have been a little bit more talked about or freaked

(12:46):
people out a little bit more. And then we have
that final message, and that final message is now like
did he survive? Is he still alive or was that
like a time text message was that supposed to send
out at a certain time or did he survive that gunshot?
Because then that made me think and then I was like, ooh,
this kind of opens it up for a sequel, And

(13:07):
my brain was like, oh, well, maybe it could go
one of two ways. One way is if they were
to do a sequel. He moves on to a new school,
takes on a new identity, finds a new girl, and
it all starts over again until maybe he's caught. And
then the other was that he comes back and ends
up going after and they won't have another final showdown.
So it's kind of like, oh, here's two ideas for

(13:29):
like sequels. I was like, Oh, I could see it
going either way, And I think if it was to
go into a sequel that it would be fun, because
they definitely did open it up to a possibility that, oh,
this could extend, there could be more, it could be
a sequel, And it's just like my brain is like
going with like, oh, maybe this would be a good idea.
Maybe this would be a good idea. So and I
know that's kind of like how some horror movies do

(13:51):
it is where they like have the killer or the
villain dead in the end, or at least you think
he's dead, but it turns out that they survived and
now they're coming back for revenge or they're moving on
to do places and killing more people. So I think
it'd be fun to kind of explore that with this series,
if possible. I think that'd be just a little little fun.

(14:11):
I also didn't write it down, but as I'm talking
and I should have mentioned it. One of the things
that I didn't realize at first, but I kept going like,
is that the same actress was the fact that the
actress who played Brook was the same actress who played
Kayla just in a Wig. But it didn't dawn on
me until like closer to the end of the series,
and I was just like, I'm a little bit of

(14:33):
a fool. I can notice little mistakes, but that I
was a little slow on the updake of that one.
But I did kind of question it at the beginning.
I was like, is it the same actress or does
it just look like her? It's like kind of questioning it.
But I do love that they did that to make
her more resemble Kayla, So that way it made more
sense as to why Nate was drawn to Brook and

(14:54):
why he clung to her, and also to why he
called her Kayla from time to time, is because it
was the same actors playing that character, just they changed
the hair to make her look different, to make the
two characters look different but still similar. I love that,
and I love that it did take a little bit
for me to figure it out because makes it more

(15:14):
interesting when you don't know if they're the same actor
type of thing, and that you sit there going like, wow,
they did get someone, so oh wait, no, it is
the same actor, so type of thing. Not sure if
that made all the sense that I thought it did,
but I feel like you can get the gist of
where I'm going with that. But anyways, so the rating
I gave for this one was an a point too

(15:36):
that I really enjoyed it. I loved how it was
a little bit different than the normal and I love
the like the creepy stalker vibe of it. So much
fun to watch. And I love that they've kind of
started doing that a little bit because it's a step
towards a more mainstream type category and genre when it
comes to a series, I feel. But I would love

(15:59):
to hear your thoughts on the series. Do you think
that Brooks should have figured out things sooner? Do you
think that Nate is still alive? And if there was
a sequel, how do you think it may go. So
this has been talking about Love You to Death on
Drama Box. I am your host Meg. This has been
my vertical obsession and until next Day
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